Mexicans support their president's snub of Trump, but his approval is still rock-bottom

Mexicans approve of President Enrique Peña Nieto's decision to
withdraw from a planned summit with US counterpart Donald Trump,
even as the Mexican leader's popularity has sunk to a four-year
low, a poll showed on Tuesday.

The survey, by polling firm Buendia & Laredo, showed that 64%
of 1,000 Mexicans interviewed from February 2-7 approved of Peña
Nieto's decision to cancel a January meeting with the new US
president.

His popularity, however, fell to just 19%, its lowest since
February 2013, when the first poll in the series was conducted.

A poll by the same firm in late November found that Peña Nieto's approval had tumbled to 25%,
down from 29% in July, driven down by concerns over the economy
and security as well as Trump's presidential-election victory
just days before.

The Mexican leader backed out of the January 31 meeting after
Trump said he should not attend if he was unwilling to pay for a
border wall between the two countries, a central plank of the New
York businessman's election campaign.

Donald
Trump and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto arrive for a press
conference at the Los Pinos presidential residence in Mexico
City.Reuters/Henry
Romero

While Mexicans balked at Peña Nieto's decision to
meet with Trump in August 2015, when the US president was in the
midst of a presidential campaign marked by anti-Mexican
sentiment, many in the country rallied around Peña Nieto when he
scrapped the January 31 meeting.

"We have to support the president of Mexico, so he can
defend the country’s interests," telecom magnate Carlos Slim, the
fourth-richest man in the world, said. "I would be very interested in seeing this
unity last."

Even Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a two-time leftist
presidential candidate whose campaign for the 2018 presidential
election has seen a boost with Peña Nieto's slumping
popularity, called on Mexicans to support Peña Nieto — a call
that came not long after those Mexicans were in the streets
protesting Peña Nieto's policies.

Andres
Manuel Lopez Obrador, president of the National Regeneration
Movement party, with supporters in Mexico City, June 26,
2016.REUTERS/Ginnette
Riquelme

According to Buendia & Laredo's February survey, Peña Nieto
has seen his disapproval rating soar to 74%, up from 66% in
November, despite receiving plaudits for cancelling the January
31 meeting.

Another poll, conducted in mid-January by Mexican newspaper
Reforma, put the president's popularity even lower, at 12%, with
his disapproval rating reaching 86%.

The nadir in approval recorded by that poll was driven not only
by Peña Nieto's clash with Trump, but also by his government's
decision to sharply raise fuel prices, which was
received with widespread public dismay and several weeks of protests, some of which
turned violent.

Peña Nieto could at least take some consolation from the fact
that more Mexicans disapproved of Trump, with 86% of those
recently polled by Buendia & Laredo saying they had a bad
opinion of the American real-estate mogul.

According to that survey, 60% expect Trump to follow through on
campaign promises to build the border wall, although those
interviewed were split 49% to 44% whether the US or Mexico would
pay for it.